Fire (62 page)

‘What do you think you’re doing?’ Mona says.

‘We need help,’ Vanessa tells her.

Minoo opens up the rucksack pocket again, extracts the necklace and holds it up.

‘Do you know what this is?’

Mona grabs it irritably. Examines it.

‘It’s an amulet. Obvious to you too, I should’ve thought!’

She throws the amulet to Ida who catches it with one hand, looks at it for a moment and then pockets it.

‘Do you sell these?’ Vanessa asks.

‘I’ve never seen it before.’

‘She’s lying,’ Linnéa says. ‘She has sold amulets to Helena and Krister.’

‘You leave me alone!’ Mona snarls, spitting her cigarette out. It lands on the counter and she picks it up again, dragging angrily at it.

‘Get out of here,’ she says. Then she turns to Vanessa. ‘Mona would never grass. You know that.’

Minoo used to think that Vanessa’s stories about Mona were mostly exaggeration. By now, she realises there’s no need for that.

‘I begin to think you have no idea what is going on in this town,’ Minoo says, making an effort to sound sympathetic. ‘Or what these amulets are being used for.’

‘As long as my customers pay for their goods, it’s none of my business what they get up to afterwards. I mean, you wouldn’t go around hurling accusations at a car dealer because a fucking drunk driver runs somebody over.’

‘We’re not accusing you of anything,’ Minoo says. ‘But you should know that Helena and Krister use the amulets to exert control over people. They’re controlling almost everyone at school.’

‘And they’ve murdered four people already,’ Vanessa says. ‘For example, Svensson. Remember him? You saw in his future that he would die soon. You were right. He was one of their victims.’

Mona looks away. Minoo hears Linnéa’s voice inside her head.

I can’t read her mind any longer. She’s blocking me. Shouldn’t Anna-Karin get her to talk?

Minoo just shakes her head. Anna-Karin sends her a grateful glance.

‘We’re pretty sure that Helena and Krister get their power from the demons,’ Minoo says. ‘And we know that the demons are about hurrying up the apocalypse.’

‘Surely you must’ve noticed that something’s going on,’ Vanessa says. ‘And if the world goes under you won’t have any customers at all.’

Mona glares at them, inhales so deeply that sparks fly from the glowing tip of her cigarette, and then blows out a cloud of smoke that makes Minoo’s eyes sting.

How could I ever have liked smoking? she thinks.

‘How did they die?’ Mona asks. ‘The four characters you’re talking about?’

‘The police are clinging to some mad theory about “electrical accidents”,’ Minoo says. ‘But we know that the deaths were magical killings.’

Mona sits down on the stool behind the counter.

‘Okay. I’ll make an exception, just for you,’ she says with her eyes fixed on Minoo. ‘But only because things are getting out of hand, not because you lot are so fucking special, just because you’re the Chosen Ones or whatever you’re called these days.’

The combination of being clairvoyant and rude is amazingly unattractive, Minoo thinks.

‘Actually, we don’t give a shit
why
you do it,’ Linnéa says.

‘I won’t hear another word from you,’ Mona scowls. ‘In the summer, Helena and Krister turned up and placed a large order for amulets. The spec was that they should be fit for control by a metal witch. It was short notice and I couldn’t fill the whole order there and then. For a start, they bought what I had in stock.’

‘How many?’ Minoo asks.

‘A dozen. Since then, I’ve been ordering new batches from China all autumn.’

‘So you’ve no problem with flogging any number of zombie-amulets to PE?’ Vanessa says.

Mona snorts and lights a new fag on the stub of the old one.

‘Come on. That type of amulet can be used for a lot of things. For instance, you can charge them with extra energy if you’re planning to run a marathon.’

‘And that’s the kind of thing you really believed they were going to use them for?’ Vanessa says.

‘I believed nothing,’ Mona snapped. ‘Not my job, believing this or that. What was the thing about your school and the amulets?’

‘They’ve doled out amulets to everyone who is going to the school party tonight,’ Minoo says.

‘What, do you mean the bash at the centre?’

‘No. They’ve arranged a separate do at the school.’

‘At the school,’ Mona repeats and stares thoughtfully at the pillar of smoke rising from her cigarette. ‘Are you telling me that tonight, everyone there will be wearing amulets?’

‘Yes,’ Minoo says, trying not to sound impatient.

‘Not so good. Bloody awful energies in that place. And today is the spring equinox.’

‘So what?’ Ida says hoarsely. ‘Why is everyone going on and on about the sodding equinox?’

‘There’s always been a lot of hocus-pocus talked about the spring equinox. Amateurs get themselves out into the forests to find their inner child and howl to the moon. But people who know about true magic know that only one rite matters on this particular day.’

She falls silent, blows a large cloud of smoke through her nose.

‘And that’s human sacrifice,’ she says.

Minoo feels an icy chill gripping her.

‘What do you mean?’ she asks.

‘What do you think I mean? A sacrifice of a human being. Or, ideally, a lot of them.’

‘But why?’ Anna-Karin asks feebly.

‘Magic potential is part of being human. It is part of our living energy. Kill one human being and the magic energy is set free. Kill many … it leads to a fucking great freeing up, to put it simply. If you can make that energy your own, you can use it as you see fit. But only a powerful natural witch can carry this off.’

Minoo remembers what Nicolaus told them about the time when he murdered the members of the Council.

It was a wooden church and burned quickly down to the ground. I had drawn circles around it and for every life that was consumed in the flames, my own life was lengthened
.

‘Considering all the ecto I’ve sold to PE since last summer,
I reckon it’s something along those lines that they have in mind,’ Mona continues. ‘They’ve connected all the people in your school into one big network. Next, all you need is to herd the victims into a room where the circles have already been drawn and leave it for the metal witch to chomp away at all the energy in the network.’

‘But what would they want with so much energy?’ Minoo asks tiredly.

‘Haven’t got a clue.’

‘They won’t get that far,’ Vanessa says. ‘How can we stop this?’

‘Easy-peasy,’ Mona chuckles. ‘The ruling metal witch must also wear an amulet. Rip that off him or her and you short-circuit the network. All the amulets become worthless.’

‘Who is it, Helena or Krister?’ Minoo says.

Mona smiles, a strange smile. Minoo feels uneasy. It is as if she has missed something, and as if Mona thinks she’s too stupid to get it.

‘Neither she, nor Krister, is a witch. Not a natural witch, that’s for sure.’

Minoo stares at Mona.

‘It must be one or both of those two,’ Vanessa says. ‘I
know
it must. Ida and I
saw
them.’

‘They definitely work with a witch,’ Mona says. ‘But posh Mr and Mrs Malmgren are not practising magic. Somebody else is.’

‘Do you know who?’ Minoo says.

‘No,’ Mona replies and suddenly looks serious. ‘I regret to say.’

‘It must be one of Helena’s favourites,’ Ida says. ‘When I sensed the magic in the centre, they were the only ones there. You know, Erik, Robin, Rickard, Julia, Felicia … Or maybe someone else was there. I can’t be certain.’

Rickard, Minoo thinks. Perhaps he’s not controlled. Perhaps he’s the controller.

‘Gustaf said that Rickard has had an amulet since last summer,’ she says.

‘But why should Rickard help Helena and Krister to take revenge?’ Anna-Karin says. ‘Did he know Elias?’

‘No, he didn’t,’ Linnéa says. ‘But then, Helena might have brainwashed him in some quite non-magical way.’

Minoo glances at the dolphin clock on the wall.

‘We’ve got to go,’ she says. ‘The party starts in a few hours. Is there anything else we need to know?’

Mona smiles her odd little smile again.

‘
Need
and
want
are two quite different things,’ she says.

She puffs on her cigarette, looking at Vanessa.

‘It’s time for you to wake up, sweetie.’

‘What?’ Vanessa says, but Mona ignores her and lets her gaze slide on to Linnéa.

‘People do change sometimes.’

Minoo sees Linnéa’s jaw muscles contracting. Mona shifts her gaze to Anna-Karin.

‘Say goodbye when you can.’

‘What do you mean?’ Anna-Karin asks fearfully.

‘There’s still time. Use it well.’

She looks at Ida now.

‘The year ahead will be dark and hard for you.’

‘Are you telling me it’s going to get
even worse
?’ Ida says.

Mona shrugs.

‘Still, you’ll get what you were promised,’ she adds. ‘So plodding on is worth it.’

Then, finally, she turns to Minoo. Examines her.

‘There’s something wrong with you,’ she says. ‘But you know that already, don’t you?’

Minoo’s stomach churns.

‘What do you mean,
wrong
?’

‘Wrong. Unnatural. You positively stink of magic, but it’s unlike any magic I’ve ever come across. Can’t fucking identify it at all. And I don’t like it.’

Sirens start howling somewhere outside the City Mall. The sound is growing in intensity.

‘I think you should go to be with your dad now,’ Mona says.

Minoo doesn’t even stop to think. She throws herself against the door, unlocks it and runs from the Crystal Cave.

Minoo rushes towards the exit of the City Mall.

She hears running footsteps behind her, hears Vanessa call out her name, but doesn’t stop. At the automatic doors, she has to wait while they slowly slide open. Smoke seeps in, the sound of the sirens is stronger still and panic fills her whole body. She is just about to run outside when someone grabs hold of her jacket and pulls her back, making her slip on the shiny floor.

Vanessa hauls her into one of the darker corners of the Mall. Minoo’s back hits a wall so hard she almost loses her breath.

‘Let me go!’ she says.

‘What do you think you’re doing?’ Vanessa asks.

Minoo struggles to get away, but Vanessa, who is stronger, grips Minoo’s upper arms firmly and presses her against the wall.

‘Let me go!’ Minoo says again. ‘My dad …’

‘Minoo, please. Think.’

Minoo blinks. Her common sense catches up with her. No one would benefit if she ran straight into the arms of a horde of PE members out on a witch-hunt.

‘I’ve got to find out if my dad is all right,’ Minoo says.

‘The two of us will go together,’ Vanessa says and lets go of her. ‘I’m pretty sure I can make us both invisible. It worked fine with Wille.’

Vanessa holds out her hand and Minoo takes it. Vanessa shuts her eyes.

When they experimented with magic before, this never functioned and Minoo doesn’t know what to expect. But she doesn’t have to wait at all. A strange, wafting feeling goes through her body.

Vanessa opens her eyes. Then their eyes meet. They can see each other just as usual.

‘How do we know if it’s worked?’ Minoo asks.

Vanessa nods towards the other side of the aisle. A large shop window reflects the empty space where they are both standing.

Hand in hand, they run outside. Minoo notices the smoke rising to the sky, where it seems to become part of the low rainclouds. The sirens are suddenly silent, but the smell of smoke grows stronger the closer they come to Storvall Square.

He’ll be fine. Nothing has happened to him, Minoo tries to tell herself.

When they reach the middle of the square, she sees that the dark grey smoke is billowing from the windows of the
Engelsfors Herald
’s editorial office. Minoo holds Vanessa’s hand even more tightly.

They slow down as they approach the crowd that has formed on the square. Minoo scans the fire engine, the slowly rotating blue lights, the firemen shouting instructions to each other. She observes the police and the ambulance. The ambulance. She takes it in and almost loses her grip on Vanessa’s hand. But the paramedics are standing by an empty stretcher.

Is that a good sign or a bad one? Does it mean that no one has been injured or that they haven’t managed to get anyone out …?

Minoo cannot finish the thought.

A group of women wearing yellow PE jackets comes walking across the square. They stop to look curiously at the burning building.

‘Of course, it would be wrong to think that they deserved anything like that,’ one of them says, obviously meaning the exact opposite.

‘Still, that’s where negative thinking gets you,’ another woman says and they all nod in agreement.

Minoo looks at them as they walk away. She had no idea it was possible to detest complete strangers so fiercely.

Minoo and Vanessa carry on walking across the square, zigzagging carefully between passers-by and local residents who have come outside to stare and exchange gossip. Even Leffe has left his kiosk and stands there sipping coffee from a paper mug. As if this is a thrilling show, a public performance.

They have almost reached the police tape when Minoo catches sight of two of the paper’s reporters. Then Kim from reception. But she can’t see her father anywhere.

The smoke prickles inside her nose and tears at her lungs. When a couple of firemen visited the school, they had said that it was the smoke especially that was a deadly hazard and killed most victims. Minoo thinks about all the electric stuff in the office, the plastic flooring that has been there since the seventies, all the toxic gases that will form …

‘Look, there!’ Vanessa says and points.

Minoo looks. The relief is so strong her legs almost fold underneath her.

Dad. In good shape. He has put on his worn winter jacket and is arguing loudly with Nicke. Minoo picks up some of his words.

‘… a crime has clearly been committed … must investigate!’ Minoo pulls Vanessa with her to where her dad is.